Originally Posted by
prime winner
I know the steel grate discussion has been had before, but I'm wondering about a little more specific info...... What size tires do you all feel safe riding across steel grates with?
I've been using a mountain bike for neighborhood fitness rides, and my route always includes crossing a small draw bridge with steel grating, twice. I have to cross this bridge to get to my disired route where I can take many route variations through a nice easy going neighborhood. With the mountain bike tires I cross the grating with no concerns. I do have a hybrid bike on order and the tires are listed as 32c, and Im guessing the tires while slimmer have more beef than a traditional road bike tire. Back in 2014 I crossed this bridge, in the rain, on my CAAD10 road bike and my rear gatorskin tire blew out causing me to have a nasty crash requiring stitches. Trying to avoid having that happen again.
I would trust any properly inflated tire while crossing a bridge with a steel grate. The only threat of a flat would come from having the tire under-inflated. So as long as you keep your tires properly topped up, you should be fine. It's a shame you ruined a Gatorskin by riding too low on it. Those are some of the finest tires on the market, but they do require proper inflation.